Put on weight after months of no exercise? Here's how to get back into shape safely

Wellness

Put on weight after months of no exercise? Here's how to get back into shape safely

Can't run as fast or lift as much as you did before COVID-19? Here are some tips to get fit once again without injuring yourself.

23 Jun 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 09 Aug 2022 06:03PM)

There'due south no saccharide-blanket it: If you're back at the gym after months of minimal, improv workouts at habitation, you're going to be panting and sweating buckets to get dorsum into shape.

When it comes to fitness, it's a matter of "use it or lose it". If your concluding serious session was before the circuit breaker started in April, you may well take to start all over again.

"You're but equally expert equally your last preparation session," said Sydney-based sports scientist Professor Tony Boutagy. "In other words, you just get health benefits from a session for upward to about 48 hours later on."

READ: Phase 2: Skilful tips on how to stay condom in the gym, yoga studio and swimming pool

And then WHAT'S THE Harm?

It depends on your fettle level prior to that COVID-nineteen-induced hibernation. The higher your fitness level, the greater the furnishings of de-training, said Adjunct Associate Professor Bridegroom Tan, who'southward also the chief of Changi Full general Hospital's Sport & Practice Medicine Department.

"For example, a professional person bodybuilder with a lot of lean musculus mass will detect significant loss of muscle mass. He may non discover any loss of cardiovascular endurance equally it was not high in the first identify," he said.

"Likewise, a fast marathon runner volition written report that endurance, rather than strength, is the kickoff measure to be impacted."

But other than your stamina and musculus forcefulness, there are other aspects of your wellness that can exist affected, too. Here's the breakdown:

Within 10 days of not exercising: Your heed feels hazy and you are easily irritated

You'd call up that not doing much all mean solar day long for more than a week on a stretch is but the break you need, correct? The brain fog and sense of irritability after days of inactivity are signs that you are overdoing the R&R.

Those experiences could be acquired by a reduced blood menstruation to your hippocampus, the part of the brain that'southward associated with memory and emotion, according to a small study published in the journal Frontiers In Aging Neuroscience.

That was what researchers found when they subjected 12 chief endurance runners in a higher place the age of l to a x-twenty-four hours hiatus from running.

While the runners didn't show cognitive changes, 29 per cent of them displayed signs of impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance – a factor that leads to Type ii diabetes. In fact, the signs of insulin resistance include lethargy and difficulty in concentrating.

Inside ii weeks of not exercising: You lot feel like dying when climbing the stairs

Climbing a flight of stairs can already feel harder later on two weeks (or fifty-fifty just days) of stopping training, said Justin Wee, the principal physiotherapist at Tan Tock Seng Infirmary'due south Department of Physiotherapy.

That's because your VO2 max – an index that measures how efficiently your body uses oxygen during aerobic action – drops, said Dr Farah Hameed, a sports medicine physician with ColumbiaDoctors, on wellness.com.

The lower your VO2 max, the harder you'll pant when doing cardiovascular work. Conversely, the higher your VO2 max, the more free energy you'll be able to produce to run afterward the bus or achieve a new personal best for your ii.4-kilometre run.

And it gets worse the more days you devote to couch spud-ing: Afterward four weeks, it can drib by xv per cent; after three months, information technology plummets by about 20 per cent, said Dr Hameed.

Strength-wise, be mentally prepared to lose up to thirty per cent of it, said Wee. If y'all were able to bench press 100kg, yous may only be able to lift just 70kg after a fortnight of non-practice.

Your blood glucose level is affected, too. A report in the Journal Of Practical Physiology plant that people who improved their blood glucose levels over eight months of resistance and aerobic practice lost almost half of the benefits after 14 days of inactivity. Turns out, you lot snooze, you lose.

READ: Using TikTok and other tips to stay motivated while exercising during the circuit breaker

Within four weeks of not exercising: You feel tired easily

Your cardiovascular and circulatory systems have a beating at this point. For one, your stroke volume is reduced past about 10 per cent, said Wee. Stroke volume is the amount of blood pumped by your center per vanquish, and a lower stroke volume means less blood is circulated with each heart beat.

Your plasma volume as well drops past about 10 per cent, said Wee, if y'all terminate exercising for a month. Plasma is a yellowish liquid that makes upwardly 55 per cent of the body's total blood volume. While reddish claret cells send oxygen, plasma lets your center pump more blood volume. So if there is less blood volume to carry the oxygen to your muscles, they'll tire out faster.

When information technology comes to strength, it apparently diminishes slower than endurance. In a 2022 study in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning, when a group of men stopped doing resistance grooming, they still had some of their strength gains up to 24 weeks later.

Inside eight weeks of not exercising: You've gained weight

At about six weeks, y'all'd probably already be seeing a change either in the mirror or the number on the calibration, said Dr Hameed.

Fifty-fifty aristocracy athletes aren't immune. A 2022 study in the Journal Of Forcefulness And Conditioning Research establish that competitive swimmers, who took a five-calendar week break from their training, experienced a 12 per cent increase in body fat, and a heave in their body weight and waist circumference.

Elite taekwondo athletes, who took an eight-week hiatus from exercise also got fat. In a 2022 study, they experienced an increase in trunk fat and a subtract in musculus mass.

READ: Feeling tired while working from home? 5 easy exercises to boost your energy

HOW Practise WE TEST HOW MUCH FITNESS WE'VE LOST?

Dr Tan recommended the following tests for gauging your electric current postal service-CB fitness in terms of stamina, strength, flexibility and balance.

Stamina:

Run 2km and time yourself.

Rest:

Stand up on one leg and measure the length of time you tin can concur the position before having to put your foot downwardly.

Flexibility:

Bend forward and stretch your hands towards the floor. Measure the distance between your fingertips and the floor.
For upper limb flexibility, identify ane hand overhead and bring it downward your dorsum. Identify the other hand behind your back and reach upwards towards the other hand. Have someone measure out the altitude between the two hands.

HOW Practise You GET BACK IN THE GAME?

The key is to put aside your ego, and first irksome and like shooting fish in a barrel. Don't assume that you are still every bit fit as your pre-COVID-19 self.

"Heed to your body. If you don't feel comfortable performing whatsoever exercises, irksome downwardly, reduce the resistance or practice fewer repetitions," said Wee. It is also helpful to warm up prior to your workout, especially after a long menses of inactivity.

As a dominion of the thumb, said Dr Tan, resume your activities at half the intensity, frequency, and duration relative to what yous used to do. "Over the weeks, progressively step upwardly the intensity past 10 per cent each week."

To find out if your starting bespeak is excessive, Dr Tan recommended taking note of your mail service-exercise aches and soreness.

"If yous practise not feel any soreness or muscle aches, it is likely that you were too conservative. If you lot experience excessive soreness and have difficulty going near your daily activities, information technology is likely that you lot were also ambitious with your fitness routine. If the soreness is endurable and you can comfortably get nearly your daily activities, you have struck the right remainder."

Simply ultimately, don't worry. "The loss of fitness is reversible. When you start exercising regularly once more, it volition return," said Wee.

Put on weight after months of no exercise? Here's how to get back into shape safely

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